March for Babies

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Thursday, January 14, 2010

We seem to have started out 2010 with a bang! After two straight weeks offeverishly cleaning, packing and painting our house, we met with tworealtors who basically told us not to bother trying to sell right now as theforeclosures in our area were driving down home prices and we really can'tget what we would like (need) for the house. SO, the new plan is to wait andsee what happens with the housing market in the next year or two and see ifin that time we can be ready to cut and run when the time is right. We dowant to buy/build a new home (I have been daydreaming about vaulted ceilingsand walk-in closets...and a dishwasher...and a garage I can park in) but thetime is not right for that just yet.

Amanda had her check up at the oncology clinic on Monday where shethoroughly impressed her oncologist by knowing each of the numbers andletters drawn on a piece of paper and reciting scenes from the latestSnoopy/Super Why/Clifford episodes she'd seen. The doctor said for a24-weeker Amanda is "EXCEPTIONAL". We knew that of course, but it is nice tohear it from an objective professional. :0) The doctor also told her that ifshe would use the toilet she would send her a very special wrapped prize inthe mail. Amanda changed the subject. The potty is a bit taboo with herright now.

On Tuesday Amanda had her CT scan and hearing screening. These occur every 3months to ensure if the cancer comes back we catch it good and early. If itwere to come back, it is most likely to happen in the first two yearsfollowing treatment. As we are just past the one year mark we aretentatively sighing half a breath of relief. (This sounds a bit like anoptimistic whimper if you listen close enough.) The scans were completelyclear and she passed the hearing screening again with flying colors. (Theycheck her ears due to the one chemo drug known to cause hearing loss in thehigh frequencies. So far, no deterioration.) The blood work for the cancermarker (AFP) is supposed to be below 8. Hers was in the hundreds ofthousands upon diagnosis, it is currently 2.4. (YAY!!!!) We will now waitfour months before she has another scan and if that is also clear we will goto every six months. One step closer to the path that will eventually leadus out of the woods. (What exactly does out of the woods look like again?)

Tuesday morning, in the Envoy, on the way to the hospital for the scans, wewere rear ended on the highway. Running late and trying to decide how badthe hit really was I knew Amanda was not hurt when she piped up, "Wow, thatwas a BIG BUMP!" I looked in the rearview mirror to see a dark colored sedanbehind us with a man wearing a baseball cap at the wheel. I debated for afew seconds and, angry that we would be late and probably miss the scan alltogether, I pulled off onto the shoulder. I again looked in the rearview andthe car was gone, he'd passed me and accelerated down the off ramp. Ichecked my mirrors again and, as Sherriff Roscoe P. Coltrane used to say, Iwas in "Hot Pursuit"! I followed the car and got the plate number, thenturned down the road towards the hospital. I checked the bumper when Ipulled into my parking space. The bumper was cracked, scraped with paint anda piece of the other car's headlight was stuck in my tow hitch connector.The guy should consider himself lucky we didn't have the trailer ball in atthe time. Anyway, after getting through the scans (the most traumatic partwas when she FREAKED out at seeing the CT machine, they have assured me wecan give her something for anxiety next time) and then finally getting towork that afternoon, I found out I had to take the truck up to the StatePolice Post to file an accident report. I gave the information and the platenumber. They would have to send a trooper to track down the car. I receivedthe call this afternoon that the "suspect" is not living at either addressthat came up under that plate number and his license is suspended. Thisleads me to believe he probably does not have valid insurance either. Crap!I can only hope that Karma will come back around to this guy and I hope helearns he hit a mother taking her 3-year-old daughter to the hospital!!!!!*Guilt-Voo-Doo-Guilt-Voo-Doo* Also, thank goodness the damage to my vehicleis minor and neither Amanda or I were hurt in any way.

Tuesday night thinking about my bumper and the fact we have half of a housepacked and are now not moving and we did not yet have the results ofAmanda's scans I decided that I would trade the stupid bumper for negativescan results. Putting everything back into perspective. *sigh* It alsooccurred to me that the one other real car accident I have been in was onOctober 12, 2005. I was six weeks pregnant and T-boned by an elderly couplewho tried to blame everything on me for fear the man would lose hislicense...which wasn't valid anyway. The cop let them off and I didn't evenplay the pregnancy card! (To this day I am convinced that the anxiety aboutthat accident and the stress it caused lead to the congenitalbrain/nerve/muscle defect in Amanda's eye.)

So, things should be calming down now as the year progresses, but I may notdrive on the 12th of the month anymore. I did hear this morning they willnow have rickshaws downtown, maybe I can ride one of those instead.

Monday, January 4, 2010

We are meeting with realtors this weekend. We will pick the one we thinkwill sell our house the quickest. We are talking to builders. WE.ARE.CRAZY.We have two trips to NASCAR and a trip to Sesame Place scheduled for thissummer.

Our Dear Amanda is fighting Hepatoblastoma. Her best friend and bodyguard is a stuffed Lion named Meow. He keeps her safe even when Mommy and Daddy make her do things she does not want to do. This is our journey through treatment to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Manda and Meow

Words to Live By

"It isn't brave if you aren't scared."-From the movie Bounce

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow."- Mary Anne Radmacher